I wish I could have gone to this conference at Princeton. Sounds interesting. And I enjoy going into environments where there are the most extreme kind of pro-abortion people. The quotes you get are worth the entry fee in gold. Take this, as an example:
Kissling shocked the audience in the last session by saying, “I don’t care how you accomplish it [the right to abortion], whether through a constitution, the UN, state laws or federals laws, or by the Taliban.” The University of Pennsylvania, where Kissling is a visiting bioethics scholar, has drawn criticism for appointing the long-time abortion activist who lacks significant academic credentials.
Now that’s dedication.
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Jennifer adds: Here’s a good article about Singer and the fact that he paid for care for his aging mother with Alzheimer’s, going against his utilitarian ethics. “Singer forgot to look on page 2 of his book Practical Ethics, where he asserts, “…ethics is not an ideal system that is noble in theory but no good in practice. The reverse is closer to the truth: an ethical judgment that is no good in practice must suffer from a theoretical defect…” It seems that not only his critics think his action towards his mother negates his ethical theory, he does too! Will he take his own advice and admit that his ethical theory must suffer from theoretical defects, since it is no good in his very own practice?” (Source)








I’ve read some about this conference over the weekend. It’s too bad I didn’t catch the live feed in time. I think we’re long over-due for a tone change in the abortion debate.
Not to over analyze you Andrea, but your choice of title is interesting. I don’t see pro-choice people as the enemy anymore than I think we are their enemy.
It used to be said that abortion is something people of good faith can disagree on. I still prefer to see it that way. Plus, you have a greater chance of making progress in a conversation if you don’t enter into it with the attitude that the other person is your enemy.
Kristina, I would agree that I don’t see pro-choice people as “the enemy”. When someone tells me they’re pro-choice, that doesn’t mean I bubble up with rage or end the conversation. However, saying you’re pro-life is often the quickest way to clear a room, and there are those who support abortion who have drawn lines in the sand and refuse to dialog with anyone who disagrees with them. The Kissling quote illustrates just how militant and totalitarian some individuals can be when it comes to getting their way, “by any means necessary”. Here’s another quote from the article on Morgentaler Andrea recently posted: “As for his foes in the pro-life camp, he gives them no quarter. “I have nothing but contempt for people who wish to deny women one of the fundamental rights to control their reproduction,” says the 2008 Order of Canada recipient.”
The individuals who hold “nothing but contempt” for me, well… they happen to be some of the loudest voices. I’ll turn the other cheek to them, but we’re not exactly friends.
Kristina, thanks for the question. I don’t see any person as the enemy, but there certainly is a war going on. How to balance these points? How to identify the enemy while treating each individual with respect? How are we affected by evil? Where does evil reside?
I think I’ll mull this over and contemplate a bigger post.
One thing I will say, however, is that the conference in question had some of the most radical pro-abortion folks present. One woman argued in favour of third trimester (partial birth) abortion for any reason at all. (no health defects, just social reasons. As in “I don’t feel like having this baby anymore.”)
Some people are pawns in the abortion rights movement. They’ve suffered and they are misguided. Others cause people to suffer and be misguided. I have some level of animus for the latter. And if forced, might even call them the enemy.
Jennifer, here is something I have learned that may or may not help you:
The women who are really pro-choice feel that any infringement on their right to abortion is forcing them to do something with their body that they don’t want to do. When they see a pro-life person, they basically see a rapist.
I do agree that it’s frustrating when people refuse to dialogue, but at least I understand where they are coming from.
I should say, most people I know IRL who are pro-choice are fairly reasonable.
“When they see a pro-life person, they basically see a rapist.”
WOW…….
Then Kristina, you have learned nothing.
Well, I guess that I should be honest and admit that when I (pro-life person) see those who are pro-choice or pro-abortion, I see a murderer.
Jennifer, I just ran across your blog today when during an internet search on Singer’s quote. Your blog was one of the top ones. Anyway, when I first read the quote (from an internet publisher) I had my doubts to its authenticity, so I wanted to see if Singer truly said that.
I guess I surprised myself a little bit in that I was shocked by his comment. I shouldn’t be though, which brings me to your comment: the abortionists are getting more hostile. Whether we like it or not, simply winning will not be enough. Like Andrea said, “there certainly is a war going on.”
Abortion = Death of a Civilization